Is your brain back to front?

British businesses will spend this weekend on tenterhooks as they wait for Monday’s announcement from the Government about the ending of lockdowns. For the past couple of weeks, the mutterings from 10 Downing Street suggest that the so-called “freedom day” will not happen. Indeed, yesterday there were “rumblings” implying that …

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Can you do boring tasks?

Last week, not far from the M25 in Buckinghamshire, the biggest-ever boring machine in the UK started its slow churn through the Chiltern hills to dig a tunnel for the HS2 rail system. It will take three years for the device to complete the 10-mile tunnel in a non-stop effort. …

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Fence painting

When did you last paint your garden fence?

If you are a “big change” business, then you are like my garden fence. Leaving it unpainted for so long has created much more work, at a higher cost, than if it had been tended to every year. Ignoring reviews of your online activity for long periods also means you make more work for yourself and raise your costs.

Student studying online

Students are frightened to return to campus learning

News reaches me this morning, showing that the past year of online learning has been much worse for students than many expected. In a thorough analysis of students who have been working online since last April, this study shows that there is massive fear about studying normally in the future. …

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Daylight savings time concept

Do you need to make up for lost time?

Daylight Savings interrupts your sleep for several days Imagine for a moment that you are the captain of a huge container ship. Due to bad luck and a following wind, you have managed to get your vessel stuck across a major shipping route. Hundreds of other ships have to stay …

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Happiness concept

Do you know what makes you happy?

Do you know what makes you happy? Probably. But do you also know what makes you unhappy? This article contains the answer – and it is not COVID…!

storytime for children

Are you sitting comfortably?

Children for years have been told to sit comfortably and listen. It means we all sit down too long…! Getting up from your desk has now been shown to improve your attention. You will be less distracted online if you get up and move, rather than sit comforably.

Man at computer in dark room

Are you enjoying lockdown?

Yesterday I had a meeting at lunchtime, so I had to take a late lunch. As I sat in the kitchen munching on my sardines, I switched on the TV. The “hard news” of the lunchtime bulletin gets replaced with softer stories early in the afternoon. So, while I was …

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Can you predict your future?

On Friday morning I was listening to a radio phone-in when the presenter said, “Please, no more calls about a Brexit deal…!” He then went on to say “We have no way of knowing what will or won’t be decided. There are a bunch of people locked in a room …

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Christmas presents

Are you ready for Christmas?

OK, I know, it is September, and I am talking about Christmas. Sorry for bringing it up so early. Even if you are not Christian and don’t celebrate Christmas, late December is still an important time of the year for businesses. It’s the traditional time when people hand out business …

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Graph showing two waves

Can your business survive a second wave of COVID-19?

Last week, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that a “second wave” of COVID-19 seemed inevitable. We have known about the pattern of viral infections for centuries, so it should have been no surprise to our leaders that this second wave was coming. The problem for businesses is that …

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Is your email out of control?

Last week I had a bit of a panic with my newsletter. As always, I check my email just after 10:00 am to see that the message has been delivered OK. However, by 10.15 nothing had arrived, and I was worried that it hadn’t been sent. So, I logged into …

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Can you beat an algorithm?

Algorithms frequently get things wrong. You can’t get rid of them entirely. But you can re-focus your business efforts so that you don’t need them so much and don’t get affected by their inevitable mistakes.

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